The present invention relates to the design and implementation of high speed metropolitan area networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to the computerized mapping of the high bandwidth telecommunication cables used in metropolitan area networks to assist in the design, planning, and implementation of future cable installation and customer connections.
Connectivity has become a critical part of business and personal life in the modern world. Voice telephone connections, often in very large volumes, are essential to conduct business and other activities today. In addition to voice connections, data connections such as those used for computer networks like the Internet require high bandwidth connections for optimal operation. Voice and data connections often use the same high bandwidth telecommunications cable to carry their signals. Signals from multiple sources are often combined for efficient transport over an infrastructure of high bandwidth telecommunications cable. The infrastructure of high bandwidth telecommunications cable includes miles of cable, particularly fiber optic cable, installed in most cities across the United States and abroad. The high bandwidth telecommunications cable installed in a metropolitan area creates a high bandwidth metropolitan area network.
A telecommunication customer desiring a high bandwidth connection, for whatever purpose, must be linked to one of the high bandwidth cables installed in their metropolitan area, or a new cable to accommodate them must be installed. As the telecommunications infrastructure expands, the present location of high bandwidth telecommunications must be considered as part of planning for the installation of additional high bandwidth telecommunications cable. Thus, the location of installed high bandwidth telecommunications cables is important information for companies providing high bandwidth connectivity to customers, as well as companies that install high bandwidth infrastructure. Often, a single company performs both the function of installing the high bandwidth telecommunications infrastructure and the function of connecting telecommunications customers to that infrastructure.
Most metropolitan areas include cable owned by a wide variety of different entities. Generally, cable owners shall be referred to as “vendors” herein. Typically, vendors lease access to their cable to others, including competitors. At present, some metropolitan areas have sixty or more vendors with high bandwidth telecommunications cable installed. Maintaining records of such a large number of vendors can be extremely difficult. Making matters even more difficult, the ownership status of various cables can change frequently. Acquisitions, mergers, and other business transactions often change the ownership of particular cables. New cable also continues to be installed. Because of the installation of additional cable and the transfer of existing cable, maintaining records as to the location and ownership of high bandwidth telecommunication cables in a metropolitan area network can be a challenging task.
Simply maintaining the location and ownership of high bandwidth cable is not enough to plan a connection to the cable system. Not all locations along a high bandwidth telecommunication cable are appropriate for forming a connection. To connect to a cable, a node must be accessed. A node may take a variety of forms, some more suitable for connection than others. For example, a carrier hotel is a physical structure used to connect to a high bandwidth cable. Other forms of nodes, such as switches, may provide some ability to connect to a cable. To connect to a particular cable, some form of node must exist or be created to allow the connection to be established.
Maintaining and accessing records of the location of high bandwidth cable, the vendors who own the cable, and the location and type of node for each cable can be an extraordinarily challenging task. Because of the geographical nature of the information, the use of a map to display the relevant data is typical. However, placing all of the information regarding the high bandwidth telecommunication cable network for a metropolitan area upon one or more hard copy maps presents problems for users. First, the dynamic nature of a metropolitan area network will render a static hard copy map obsolete quickly. Moreover, the high quantity of information to be displayed on the map can be overwhelming. Additionally, depending upon the particular use of a map, not all possible information may be necessary. For example, if a company is seeking to establish a connection for a customer, that company may prefer to connect to one of a handful of vendors with which it has made special business arrangements to access their cables. In such a case, the company may wish to obtain information about other vendors only if their priority vendors do not have a cable within a predetermined distance of the customer. Displaying information regarding the location of other vendors' cables might not be desired unless it is necessary due to the absence of the preferred vendors' cables.
Of course, the maintenance of metropolitan area network maps has moved to a digital format. However, the common practice of maintaining metropolitan area network maps on a particular workstation, while superior in many regards to maintenance of hard copy maps, does not adequately address the needs of companies installing high bandwidth telecommunications cable providing connectivity to telecommunications customers. Information maintained on a single workstation can be difficult to access. Further, simply converting maps of metropolitan area high bandwidth telecommunications from a hard copy format to a digital format does not necessarily facilitate the maintenance and display of information.
The present invention addresses the need of companies installing high bandwidth telecommunications cable and providing data connectivity using high bandwidth metropolitan area networks to maintain information regarding the ownership cables, the location of cables, and the location of nodes within a metropolitan area. The present invention allows the user to preferentially display information relating to the vendors availability in a particular area, and allows the user to determine what information should be displayed for a particular purpose. The present invention also allows a user to query the system to obtain particular information, such as the presence or absence of nodes, within a particular portion of a geographical area. These and other attributes of the present invention shall be described more fully below.